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06 April 2015

Corruption-investigation over A350 purchase order from Sri Lankan Airlines.

The Sri
Lankan government on Saturday announced a criminal investigation into the
US$2.3 billion purchase of 10 Airbus aircraft for the island’s loss-making
national carrier under the former administration.

Sri Lankan
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said a independent panel found gross
violations of financial regulations and procurement procedures in the
state-owned Sri Lankan Airlines deal, and said they warranted criminal
prosecutions of former executives.

The statement from the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s Office says:

“A Board of Inquiry has
found shocking details of corruption running into billions of dollars,
manipulations of service contracting, recruitment of unqualified staff and
major security breaches at Sri Lankan airlines under the former government… The
former government of President Mahinda Rajapakse made management changes to
carry out a re-fleeting of the airline with brand-new aircraft costing $2.3
billion despite the availability of more cost effective alternatives…
BOI also recommends criminal investigations on the involvement of Udayanga
Weeratunga former Ambassador to Russia and Dilan Ariyawansa in several GSA
appointments.”

It said the
panel, headed by a former chairman of Transparency International’s Sri Lanka
office, found a “culture of corruption” in the airline, which has accumulated
losses of more than US$650 million.

Former CEO Kapila Chandrasena

In
particular, the panel said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the former
airline chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe — brother-in-law of former Sri Lankan
president Mahinda Rajapaksa — as well as former chief executive Kapila
Chandrasena, who resigned last month when the panel called for action against
him in an interim report.

Source: Airbus

Sri Lankan
Airlines ordered 6 Airbus A330 aircraft and 4 A350 airplanes in 2013. It took
delivery of the first 2 A330 planes last year.

The carrier
has said it expects three A350 aircraft to be delivered next year and the
fourth in 2017.

The statement
from the prime minister’s office said the probe also found that the national
carrier had tried to “hush up” serious mistakes by pilots, but gave no details.

Soon after
the new government came to power, Sri Lankan Airlines stopped flying to the
island’s second international airport.

The January
election was fought partly on claims of corruption and waste by the Rajapaksa
administration, which is facing allegations of padding infrastructure projects
to siphon off money.

Based on the article “Airline ‘corrupt’: Sri Lanka probe” published in Taipei News